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Mastery of Speech: How to Speak on Public Occasions


How to Make Good Recitations in School or College

KEY WORDS: IN MAKING A RECITATION DIVIDE YOUR ANSWER INTO AT LEAST THREE PARTS.
If you are a student in school or college, study is not the only requisite for success. You must learn how to express the knowledge you gain.

Here is a method that will help you to recite well under almost all conditions where mere memory is not the essential.
The instructor asks you a question, for example: "What are the characteristics of Edgar Allan Poe's stories ?"

You have studied Poe, and know something about him and his work.

You should answer as follows:
  1. Repeat the principal words of the question: "The principal characteristics of Edgar Allan Poe's stories are --------." By repeating the principal words of the question you center your thought around the proper points, and are not likely to answer incorrectly.

  2.  Conclude your opening sentence by adding at least three words, phrases, or clauses that answer the question:    "The  principal   characteristics   of  Edgar  Allan Poe's   stories   are  originality,   melancholy,  and   artistic, form.

    3. <>
  3. By giving three divisions you have laid out the subject, for treatment. The three divisions you give may not be at all the divisions the instructor wishes, but your logically planned answer will be accepted with praise.

  4.  Now say something about every one of your three divisions, taking up one point at a time, and proving it.
    5. <>Prove your points by giving specific examples. Refer to at least one story that illustrates "originality," one that illustrates "melancholy," and one that illustrates "artistic form."

  5. In concluding, use your opening sentence as a summary:    "Thus we see that Poe's  stories are original, melancholy, and artistic in form."

If you answer in this way you do not need to have a great array of facts at your disposal. You need to systematize the knowledge you have.

If you are not a student you will find the method useful in answering questions asked you on various occasions in daily life.
The method is always successful. It carries an impression of weight and power.

PROBLEM.

Answer some question of the day in the manner suggested.